Tag Archives: brooklyn

yes a few months ago i picked up a bright Valencia Orange BMW 1M. 740 cars brought to the US market. Mine is #374.

I will be doing a full review and photo-post about the car at a later time.

All i can say for right now is: It is the most fun car I have ever driven….the best car i have ever driven—and i’m still shocked that i own it and drive the pants off of it every single day. Worthy of all the hype and more! Live the dream, my rock and roll people!

Well i’m lucky that i live 2 blocks away from Rough Trade NYC—-so i woke up, went to the gym, and then put on my clothes and walked over to Rough Trade!

There were TWO records i wanted. Both debut reissues. The first was the reissue 12″ of “Supersonic” by Oasis and the second was the reissue 12″ of “An Ideal For Living” EP by Joy Division.

The line at Rough Trade occupied much of N. 9th street and stretched on and down Kent Ave.

After seeing so many people in line, i had my doubts I was going to be able to find the limited edition 12″ vinyl i was after—–but 5 minutes after entering, i had what i needed in hand! It only took 1.5 hours. Well worth it though…..and the records? well i already knew BOTH were amazing….and they certainly are. Both are remastered and sound better than ever. People were so excited to find the records they were looking for…..as was I.

For the past few years—my favourite bands have all come from Sweden. This week i’ve been listening to a lot of Holograms. Their new record, “Forever”, was released this week. Their 1st album was sort of a simple, straight forward affair—while the new album is darker, more complex, and dare i say Broder Daniel-influenced? (Broder Daniel is one of my favourite bands of all time). They even titled the album “Forever”, just like Broder Daniel titled one of their records “Forever”. Hmm.

Holograms are playing 285 Kent Ave. on December 6th in Brooklyn. you will find me there, lurking in a dark corner.

I laughed so hard when I saw this car. I laughed from far, and then i laughed from up close! Spotted in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Apologies for the water on my camera lens, as there is a hurricane outside when I was walking around!

For those who don’t know, the Mossad is obviously the controversial Israeli intelligence agency (equivalent to the CIA in the US government). “Mitochondrial DNA”, interestingly enough, is generally passed down from one’s mother. I am still trying to interpret these quotes in full.

This past week, i bought a new 40mm Summicron F2 for my Leica M8.1 (M8u) and man do i love it. It is considered one of the finest kept secrets in the Leica world, and they are totally right. The 40mm Summicron is one of the sharpest and most well balanced lenses, and it really makes the 35mm Voigtlander Nokton F1.4 feel more primitive and just not as nice to use. Everyone with an M-mount camera needs this lens. It does have a tendency to flare when pointed directly at sunlight, however most Summicrons and Summiluxes have similar tendencies. All in all, a wonderfully compact and tight lens which is excellent to use. Highly recommended!

Here are some of my favourite photos i’ve taken over the past week, taken with the new 40mm Summicron F2:

My Leica M8 is now fully capable, up and running with a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 lens. This is my first time ever owning and using a fully manual camera, and my first time owning and using a Rangefinder. What a machine—-really find it a fascinating piece of equipment. I just put it all together last night, and am still playing around with the settings. Less than 24 hours with it, and these are my favourite photos thus far. Lots more to come in the future, hopefully!

I have no idea what this Chinese cough syrup is made of…but it sure should looks hardcore:

Apologies for not updating this Sunday, however I was too busy enjoying the hell out of my new car buying experience!

Car shopping has been a very enjoyable experience. I must admit that I only posted 3 of my favourite cars I reviewed, however there were many others which I ended up testing but never wrote a review on. Some of the others included: Subaru WRX, Mercedes C300, VW GTI, Audi A4, BMW 135i, Audi RS6 (C5), and a few more. I really enjoyed the Evo 10, and honestly it was the best performing car I drove amongst all of them—however I could get past the vulgarity of it, the subwoofer and battery filling up the trunk, and the poor mileage (15-20mpg). The Audi S4 was a superbly nice car to sit in and drive, however it felt too imposing for me and too large. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. The BMW 335i was a decent package which sort of occupied the middle of the road here. In my decision making process, I really started to understand why I really didn’t want any of those cars—–because they were either too big, not enough fun, OR not built well enough.

2 years ago, my wife and I had driven to an Audi dealership to drive (and buy) an Audi A3. We both loved the car, however we couldn’t really afford to buy one new at the time. Now, we were able to afford one, so that’s exactly what i’ve done. The car wasn’t easy to find in the spec I wanted, as there was only ONE car in this spec arriving in the USA this month. I found that car, and had to really do some hustling to get it before somebody else did.

I picked up the car on saturday morning. I have not stopped smiling every since! It is such a riot to drive, and I am so impressed by its agility, composure, handling, acceleration, and its overall build quality. The car feels extremely well built, each door closes with a german ‘thud’, and every time i get into the special leather & perforated alcantara seats and wrap my hands around the thick perforated leather steering wheel—the car feels very special. Audi states the mfg 0-60 times of 6.7 seconds, although it feels very quick—even quicker than that. The quattro system keeps all the 200hp useable and you feel huge amounts of grip in the corners. A $500 ECU ‘reflash’ adds 50hp and 100+lb/fut torque. What a car though…..i’m enjoying every minute of it!

There were other cars I tested which were faster or more capable performers than the A3, however none of them offered the entire package of style and substance like the A3 does—–and none of them made me happy like the A3 does! The interior of the car is just downright fantastic, and really impresses me with its final attention to detail (white stitching on dark grey leather with perforated alcantara inserts) and materials. The layout is minimalist and very easy to use—especially since much of it was modeled after my other car, the MK1 TT. The ‘sport’ seats are better than I expected, with nice big bolsters on the sides and on the shoulders. I had never seen these seats in person before, but was highly pleased with them on the car. The RNS-E updated Navigation system is very easy to use, and being someone who isn’t particularly tech savvy when it comes to connecting devices, I have found the bluetooth connectivity to my iPhone to be remarkably easy to use and intuitive.

Let me be honest by saying that NO Audi is ‘cheap’ to buy, and I spent a significant amount of money getting the car in exactly the spec I wanted to—–but I will say that after driving this since Saturday, I think the car definitely feels or exceeds its price in every way. There is a level of build quality and thoughtfulness throughout the design which exceeds my expectations. This 8P generation of the Audi A3 has been around for several years now, first debut’ing in the US market back in 2006. However I think the design of the car is just wonderful, and harks back to the older days of Audi, when they were a bit more understated and boxy. The headlights and taillights are truly a work of art, with LEDs present on both ends and bixenon headlights rolling in the front. Notice that the Titanium sport package removes the ‘chrome’ outline around the large modern Audi single frame grille design, making the grille far more subtle and not so ‘bling’—-something i wanted as a priority on this car. I think the blackened grille surround really adds to the appeal of the front end.

Driving wise, I am really enjoying the hell out of the car. The S-tronic/DSG (dual clutch transmission) is unbelievable….and after years of driving manual gearboxes, I am truly amazed by the performance which can be transmitted to the road with the DSG. While there are great amounts of satisfaction in pressing a clutch and shifting a gear on a manual transmission car–I am finding great satisfaction of having both hands on the wheel and getting an instant, race car-like shift using the paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel. This is not an automatic transmission, it is a truly automated manual transmission utilizing clutches (2 of them) just like a manual transmission would—-the difference is that the box is electronically controlled and you press the paddles without the use of a clutch everytime you shift. If you haven’t tried this gearbox out, you must do so! There is a level of control which I have never felt in all of my years in driving manuals. The handling on the A3 quattro is superb, very sure footed and very firm with great levels of grip on the 18″ special RS titanium and silver wheels. I have already flung the car into corners with great composure, and the stiffened sport package springs keeping everything neutral and alive. The steering feel is among the best i’ve felt in an Audi. I am the first to admit that the big weakness in most Audis I have driven has been steering response; in my TT I actually modified the car to with new control arms bushings to improve the response, which it did dramatically. The A3, on the other hand, feels great right out of the box.

So there it is….my first new car! I can’t tell you how great the feeling is of getting in the car and smelling the freshness of that ‘new car smell’….it is one of the great joys of life IMO! To know that nobody else has owned it or driven it before. I also can’t tell you how happy it makes me to look in my garage spot now and see the A3 and the TT sitting together, dressed in black. Behold, the beginning of the IEDEI AUTO HAREM!

I drive a lot through New York City—-and everyday I find myself wondering HOW the potholes in the road just get bigger and bigger. They fix them, they come back. After several years of commuting by car through NYC city streets; I have learned areas where the road is worse than others, in my mental data bank of pothole summaries. That being said, there are always new surprises which bubble up.

So how are potholes made!?

“It’s hard to believe those chasms in the pavement aren’t the remnants of miniature explosions. Instead, they’re carved by plain old water. The process usually starts with one little crack that fills with H2O. When water freezes, it expands, and when the water inside the crack expands, it pushes the asphalt outward and upward—a lot like when you forget a soda in the freezer and return to find a frozen volcano bursting from the bottle. “

Sooner or later I will write to you all about WHY i skip my 10 minute, 2-stop subway ride and mostly take the 30 minute driving option from Brooklyn to Manhattan to get to work and search for street parking every day; an act of sheer insanity, however I am motivated and excited to choose the inefficient, yet much more enjoyable manner to get to work. This old Audi commercial reminds me of how i feel every morning (aside from the valet parking, that is)

Like this:

(thanks to Elyse Sewell for sharing this glorious photo with me, not sure where it was taken…)

Well it snowed like we were at war with the sky over the weekend here in NYC. I learned several things during this snowstorm.

A) People in NYC have no idea how to drive through snow. Having grown up in Michigan and then lived 3 years in Chicago taught me very well how to drive during a snowstorm. People here have extreme difficulty in judging whether their car can clear certain ‘mounds’ of snow. On the corner of our street in Brooklyn…..There were 10s of cars stuck over a period of just a few hours. Some cars in Brooklyn REMAIN stuck even now…..

B) I drive a very low to the ground modified with a stiff suspension, 18 inch lightweight wheels, and on all-seasons. my TT quattro had absolutely no trouble handling the snow in any way. There wasn’t a single time i felt unstable or unable to clear any snowbanks. Most of you know I am a major Audihead….and this is why. These cars are unstoppable by weather. While other people stay parked during inclement storms, Audis come ALIVE! It was great to see people with looks of disbelief as i passed their stuck SUVs and trucks in my low black coupe…..i even heard “what the hell is that thing!?”.

C) NYC was not prepared at all for this storm…..and their lack of proper cleanup is basically simple negligence and/or a mixture of holiday relaxation combined with unexpected ‘large’ storm status. There are still major streets in our area which are unplowed, and have now turned into ice. Unacceptable!

D) NYC people are tough. Much tougher than others. i saw plenty of people walking around, trudging through large stacks of knee high or even thigh high snow. In other cities, you’d see people sitting on their couch eating chips and watching TV. There were people stuck 6 hours on the A train going through Queens without heat or food on Monday morning….i’m guessing these people took the subway again today to work.

E) I need boots. No i’ve never worn boots….even in Detroit or Chicago i never did…but i also never had to walk so much as i do here…and my lack of boots means that the dude you see slipping and sliding all over the sidewalk is probably me trying to regain my balance.

I am not really a fan of motorcycles nor do i really know how to ride a motorcycle. I vaguely know how to ride a scooter, and i can ride a bicycle…..but bicycles are boring, and scooters have no balls. Although there have been may instances where I have wanted to just buy a cheap scooter and explore the city.

A few days ago I spotted a motorcycle which really got my blood running. It was a black Moto Guzzi 850 with green and white stripes on the side of the bike. I rarely look at the motorcycle and think “WOW!” but when i saw this one, I definitely felt like that. It made me wanna learn how to ride a motorbike, and it made me wanna have one.

I have no knowledge of motorcycles or of Moto Guzzi motorcycles….but i’m just learning a little bit about em at the moment. This one isn’t exactly like the one i saw, because the one i saw had green stripes, but i believe it is the same model with a different paint finish.

So lately i’ve been commuting by the NYC subway for work every morning. I gotta say that i really miss driving to work (although my previous commute from Brooklyn to Long Island was pretty UN-inspiring).

But i did see this today on my walk to the subway!

Citroen Service Van! Not sure what year or the story behind it…saw the owner get out, but didn’t get a chance to speak with him…if i see him again, i’ll be sure to ask.